Youth for Christ (YFC) was started in 1944. It has been going for 76 years ministering to teens. In 1945 a young Billy Graham held a rally working with Torrey Johnson, and this rally was held in Chicago. Rallies for YFC went across the USA and eventually became international. The Lincoln chapter was started in 1969 by Glen Jones. The Lincoln chapter has 15 staff members and has advocated for 856 teens with the help of 100 volunteers. The Lincoln chapter works with 13 schools and the Juvenile Detention Center. These young people are ages 11-19. In the USA they have 23,000 staff members and are in 130 countries.Mission: The Youth for Christ (YFC) mission in Lincoln, NE is to strive to reach all middle and high school aged youth in the Lincoln Area in developing a lifelong relationship with Jesus Christ.
In its formative years, Youth for Christ was primarily a rally-driven ministry. Billy Graham and others traveled around preaching the message of Jesus Christ to large numbers of people. Smaller scale rallies occurred around the nation as Youth for Christ chapters sprang up. In order to help disciple new believers and to continue evangelizing, YFC Clubs were started. YFC Clubs eventually became Campus Life clubs. The Campus Life model was groups of students meeting as close to school property as possible and as close to regular school hours as possible.
Youth for Christ Lincoln Area is a non-denominational, non-profit organization serving youth in the Lincoln community and surrounding areas such as Lincoln, Ashland and Norris Public Schools. We engage youth through three ministries: Campus Life to teens in high schools and middle schools, Juvenile Justice to jailed teens, and Parent Life to pregnant teens. Through regular programming and special events, YFC Lincoln Area works with over 2,400 local youth with the goal of engaging them in a healthy relationship with God.
Campus Life was expanded to Lincoln’s surrounding areas under the leadership of Gary Schulte in the late 1970’s and early 80s. Tim Bohlke then solidified outreach programs in Lincoln and, with the help of Bryan Carlson, launched a successful middle school program. Tim was succeeded by Bryan Carlson, followed by current Executive Director, Matt Schulte.
Today at thousands of community centers, high schools, middle schools, juvenile institutions, coffee shops, and local hangouts, YFC staff and volunteers meet with young people who need Jesus. There are three ministries that YFC does in the Lincoln area and they are:
Campus Life – This is open to any age where kids together weekly to connect with friends, play games, share, understand each other’s faith, build a foundation for their life, and come away with a healthy relationship. They share with these kids how God does have a plan for their life and how they can share this with other young people. They mentor these young people, take trips to Colorado, Minnesota, Kansas City, so they can get away and have fun and share with them how they can deal with their own economic and personal problems.
Parent Life – This is mostly teenage girls who are pregnant and need to deal with how am I can to finish school, be a parent to my child, and get on with my own life. YFC gives these young women hope, life skills in budgeting, how they can finish school and take care of their child and be a good parent. They get support, guidance and the necessary resources so they can take care of themselves and their child.
Juvenile Justice Ministry – These are mostly boys and YCF seeks to engage these young people in relational outreach as they are met in a variety of young serving institutions. YCF usually has about 300 young men (65%) in Lincoln that they can mentor, and work with to help them get their lives back, so they become upstanding citizens in the community.
How has COVID-19 Affected YCF – During the pandemic they have had pick up many of the young people from their homes in vans and take them back home. Where before they were able to go into the schools, having sporting events, and other activities for them. This has taken a lot of people and volunteers to help with the mentoring, guidance and helping the kids get their needs met during this pandemic.
Tyler shared with us about how the “Serving Hands” Public Art Project helped with YFC during it’s 50 years in Lincoln. All the art projects for “Serving Hands” was a fundraiser for YFC. Tyler said all they did was contact the person in charge and they partnered together to help raise funds for YFC through the selling of these Hands.
INTERNATIONAL -- YFC/USA is part of a world-wide movement of Youth for Christ International. We are knit together with our common mission, vision, statement of faith, and passion to reach young people with the life changing message of Jesus Christ. However, YFC ministry doesn't look the same in every country.
Thanks, Tyler, for sharing about the YFC.